FRANKFURT Lufthansa on Thursday extended its suspension of flights to Israel until Oct. 22 over security concerns, the company said.

The airlines of the Lufthansa group, which apart from Lufthansa include Swiss, Austrian and Brussels Airlines, are suspending flights to Israel for a longer period of time.

"Safety is the top priority for the Lufthansa group airlines," the company said.

The airline also said it was continuing to communicate with Germany's foreign office regarding possible additional flights to bring Germans home from Israel.

The first four repatriation flights left for Tel Aviv on Thursday, and four more are planned for Friday.

Lufthansa airlines normally have 17 flights to Israel per day in their schedule. Most other airlines have also suspended connections to the country in response to attacks by the Islamist organization Hamas.

(Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach, writing by Emma-Victoria Farr, Editing by Franklin Paul and Sandra Maler)